Do you agree that, harry queer appropriates? (do I use the right word hm like I know anti Harry use queer bait but since he's possibly queer so, maybe that's the right word?)
No I don’t agree. What even is this question?
He is queer. He’s not appropriating queer culture. He’s expressing himself.
Closeted queer people are still queer.
He’s also not baiting, because again, he’s queer. He’s expressing himself.
Queer people signal/code to express themselves, even if they’re closeted. And it’s not anyone’s business to judge a closeted person for being in the closet. There are a multitude of reasons why they are closeted. And they can express their queerness however they want, even if they’re closeted. It’s not “lying”, “baiting” or “appropriating” - it is a valid form of expression.
Here’s a great post about queerbaiting.
Queer signaling and signifiers:
Full article here
Here is a relevant post about queerbaiting, queer coding and queer subtext.
Read this post about Harry being closeted and why.
And this post about his sexuality/gender.
Also go check out my blog, I have dozens of tags about closeting, gender, sexuality, queer coding, queerbaiting etc. Go read.
i’m not even a harry stan so don’t accuse me of that, but 1. harry has never said he was straight 2. he is not hurting anyone by wearing a dress even IF he is white and cishet. clothes are just clothes. women can wear suits, men can wear dresses. it really doesn’t fucking matter. he is not oppressing anyone by wearing a dress or being on the cover of vogue. i like billy porter but that post is a massive fucking reach. please find something worthwhile to be upset about and fight actual oppression and homophobia/transphobia because you are not helping anyone.
I never said in my post that Harry Styles wearing a dress was the issue nor did I say that men cannot wear dresses and women cannot wear suits. I am unsure as to where you got that. I legit am a dyke who dresses like a man, of course I believe that men can wear dresses and women can wear skirts! Hell sometimes they rock it better then the gender the clothing is attributed too!
the issue that I am speaking of here is the fact that the black queer and trans communities are being slighted because credit is not being given to them and is instead being given to Harry, who is being crowned as this gender non conforming king when he is NOT the one who started this trend.
Black and latinx queer people and trans people (specifically black trans woman) have fought for decades to be accepted and have worn these looks for decades while many people scoffed at them and discriminated against them.
Why is it okay for a white cisgendered man to use these ascetic and be praised while the community of individuals that created this are pushed aside?
You mention this is not fighting against actual oppression? This is. In the case of this situation, it’s giving credit of a decade long fight to someone who doesn’t deserve it. In the case of this, the black queer and trans communities are being silenced and are having their work attributed to someone who hasn’t done anything for it.
Can he participate in it? Of course! That is the only way we can normalize it!
But why is he not mentioning how these styles are not his own making? Why is he not mentioning the fact that the black and latinx queer and trans communities have been the vanguard of this fashion movement?and while their fashion can be mainstream, they themselves cannot?
why is it that Harry styles-a white cisgendered man (who while he has not stated he is straight, has said he is not queer either) is able to use these fashion trends and not give credit where credit is due?
How is giving a community-who has been marginalized, discriminated against, and attacked brutally by white cisgendered straight people-credit for their own fucking work, not helping anyone?
You speak of letting men wear dresses and women wear suits. Where is the credit for those who paved the way for gender nonconformity of this caliber to be accepted?
How is the media NOT giving them credit NOT appear homophobic, transphobic, and racist you?
A little history: These fashions evolved from Balls, which is where Black and Latinx queer people would meet and show off their fashion looks. This is also where queer slang was created as well. The whole point of these was to make a safe space for them to be themselves because this was a time when AIDS was running rampant, queer folks were dying, and transphobia and homophobia were at its peak because aids was seen as “the gay cancer”
Here is a quote from an article titled “the difference between appreciating and appropriating Queer Culture”:
“This illustrates the heart of the issue with appropriation: it occurs on an uneven playing field where white, cisgender, heterosexual people are more likely to receive credit for something they didn’t create. That, in sum, is the definition of appropriation.
“More unfortunate is the fact that, like vogueing, these cultural inventions that ended up claimed by the mainstream were created in the first place as a direct response to marginalization itself. Members of the ballroom community, for instance, started dressing and acting like rich white people on the dance floor to pretend—at least for a night—that they had the same privileges allotted to the majority. (And no, queer people mimicking dominant white groups is not an example of cultural appropriation. Again, appropriation is only applicable when those in power take from the culture of the oppressed—not the other way around.)”
Here is the link to the article. I would recommend reading it to get a better understanding of the history and why this is important. It’s clear that context is needed.
Using terms like “shade” incorrectly can negatively impact marginalized communities.
This issue of inclusion also goes beyond fashion. Here is another article in specific regards to Black Queer love stories in Hollywood and why there isn’t more of them:
The concept of genderbending, or genderfuck, stemmed from 1960s-70s identity activism among the LGBT+ community, in challenging gender roles and the gender binary. It was an act of questioning, disrupting, criticising, defying, dismantling, destroying the gender binary.
Taking a character of a binary gender, and ‘swapping’ their gender with its binary counterpart, along with its associated gender stereotypes and cissexist body types, is not genderbending. If anything its conforming to and confirming gender roles.
If you want to use genderbending as a way to explore gender and expression, then that is absolutely great but get creative, get defiant, get non-conforming, fuck with gender.
If you only wanna swap one cis binary gender role for another, stop using that word.
So you've got this one, which is just a queer American flag. Good enough, I suppose.
But there dare not be a fun festive homo thing that awful dipshits won't appropriate and distort for their gross fascism-lite bullshit:
"Fights," huh? And who are we fighting, noble culture warriors? Because when you own everything and 70% of the country is you, your enemies aren't exactly the all-powerful tyrants you like to pretend they are.
I also like the almost-black dark blue. Nature's way of telling you whoever is flying this is a big fan of vintage Hugo Boss.
When your straight cousin gets an undercut after you have done the same, and posts a million pics of herself on fb looking "edgy" and everyone says how beautiful and "fierce" she is. The same cousin who makes fun of your "lumberjack shirts". Sigh.
fuck all of you fuckers who know nothing about us and our struggle and try to play at giving a shit about us to make yourself look good to the well-meaning idiot brigade fawning from the sidelines looking for a clean white straight cis idol to feel progressive for listening to.
y'all make me want to be obnoxiously, caustically political, the exact motherfucker that you roll your eyes at when you pass me on the street because I'm just so gauche with my slogans and weird hair, being so crass as to advertise what she is rather than bury it.
Fuck you very much for wanting a handjob for acknowledging my existence, I don't need your approval anymore, and I don't want to be part of your world.
I'd add "coming out" as an ~ally~, saying "I'd go gay for so-and-so", the concept of bromance, and cishets attending pride without an invitation from a queer person as examples of appropriating our culture.
